This paper studies the relationship between technical innovations and stand
ardization, eliciting implications for an optimal role for standardization
in the innovation processes, taking mobile communications as an example. An
important role of standardization is to synchronize disjointed technical i
nnovations into a systemic innovation, which creates a new market. A two-ti
ered approach to alleviate negative effects of standardization on technical
innovations is discussed, to specify only the interface specifications bet
ween sub-systems and to define successive generations of standards. Finally
, a regional comparison is made among Europe, Japan and USA on the standard
ization processes of mobile systems and their ensuing results. (C) 2000 Els
evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.